MVN: Most Valuable Network

#1

Posted by Alan Smodic, December 11, 2008 1:25 PM

More on Veal and other Rule 5 stuff later -- just wanted to get a quick post up while I had the time.

Would love to hear everyone's comments on the selection.

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#2

Posted by Cory Humes, December 11, 2008 1:43 PM

Can't complain about Veal. He's a boom or bust kind of pick. Morlan, Kilby et al. might have been more likely to stick, but they also have lower upsides. Would've liked to see a second pick made, too, but obviously Huntington has to worry about putting butts in seats -- can't punt on 2008 yet.

I'm a little surprised to see the reactions to the Pirates' losing Kyle Bloom. While the 40-man roster is definitely stocked with some questionable talent, I don't think the answer would be to add another (extremely) long shot to the list. If Bloom were a couple years younger, I'd be singing a different tune -- but he's older than Zach Duke and hasn't had success above Single-A.

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#3

Posted by Alan Smodic, December 12, 2008 12:49 PM

Agreed. I don't think losing Bloom is much to be worried about. Veal seems to be the better prospect of the two.

I read, too, that the Pirates will be starting Veal as a reliever in Spring Training and just see how it goes. They have faith in the new pitching coach that he can be turned around.

Hopefully that's the case.

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#4

Posted by Jimmy, December 12, 2008 3:34 PM

I'm happy with the pick - potentially a very high reward on too. Veal was seen as one of the Cubs top pitching prospects a year ago.

I would have liked to see us pick up Jeff Allison too from the Marlins. He was a first round pick that went off the rails a little (ok a lot) and although he may not bounce back like Josh Hamilton has - but for $25k I would have liked it to happen. If we end up getting Andino from the Marlins, I'd quite like to see us get him too and bring him along to spring training to give him a shot at pitching out of the pen.

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